In the wake of outbreak of malaria across the State, the Government has failed in purchasing adequate number of mosquito nets.
After dengue, the spread of malaria in tribal districts is a matter of concern for the Government. Recently, the casualties due to malaria were reported from Nabarangpur district’s Jharigaon and Keonjhar’s Bansapal area.
While 19 districts of the State are considered malaria-prone, mosquito net is the effective medium to prevent the disease and it is provided in these districts every year.
The Centre had provided 18.99 lakh mosquito nets during 2009-10 and 19,02,668 in 2011-12. The Department for International Development (DfID) had provided 3,65,300 mosquito nets in the State during 2012-13. The State Government had distributed 2,25,800 mosquito nets during 2013-14. However, mosquito net has not been provided across the malaria-prone districts since 2014.
The Government had sanctioned Rs 70 crore to the Odisha State Drugs Corporation (OSDC) in 2014 to purchase 33 lakh mosquito nets for distribution. Even after two years, no steps have been taken so far to purchase nets.
Sources said the OSDC had called for tender twice. As only a single organisation participated in the tender, the item could not be purchased. However, the corporation authorities have little clarification regarding the amount sanctioned by the Government towards purchase of mosquito nets.
“The Government had released amount. But neither have we had information about it nor can we say in this regard,” a reliable source in Corporation said on condition of anonymity.
On the other hand, the authorities are under immense pressure to control malaria due to shortage of mosquito nets. The officers face humiliation while visiting the malaria-prone districts without mosquito nets.
Meanwhile, the Government is expecting to get one crore mosquito nets from an international financing organisation, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, before December this year.